Hit 100 patients cleaned in a single shift last Thursday, still not sure how that happened

I've been a dental hygienist for 8 years and somehow pulled off cleaning 100 patients in one 10 hour day. That's like one patient every 6 minutes with no breaks, which is basically impossible unless half of them just came in for a quick polish. My boss said I must have been skipping steps but I swear I didn't. Has anyone else ever hit a weird personal best at work that seemed too good to be true?

3 comments

3 Comments

ross.lily19d ago

Think you might be mixing up your numbers a bit there. A 10 hour day with 100 patients works out to one every 6 minutes flat, not 15 minutes. That's actually way more impossible than what shane_hayes is talking about with 24 patients in a shift. 24 patients in 8 hours is one every 20 minutes, which is still crazy fast but at least sort of plausible if you're skipping half the steps. But 100 patients in 10 hours means you're processing a new person every 360 seconds including paperwork, setup, and cleanup. That's not a flow state, that's either a typo or you were just handing out floss picks and calling it a day.

logan56120d ago

Honestly, that math doesn't add up at all. Were you just doing quick polish and fluoride trays on most of them, or did you actually have full cleanings with x-rays? Tbh, maybe your boss is right but you were just in that flow state where you don't realize you're cutting corners.

shane_hayes20d ago

That 24 patient number he threw out is what gets me lol. Like if he's saying he did 24 full cleanings with x-rays in one shift, that's literally one every 15 minutes with no breaks at all. Were these all adults or a mix of kids where you can actually crank through faster? But even then, the x-rays alone take time to process and mount unless they're digital and you're just flying through it. I'm genuinely curious how many of those were actually complete recalls versus just quick prophys because the math on full workups is brutal.